Afghan Prez Pinky-Swears: No More Corruption

Months after the country’s tainted national elections, foreign dignitaries flocked to the locked-down capital of Afghanistan to see Afghan President Hamid Karzai sworn in today for a second term. And Karzai gave his visitors what they wanted: A pledge to stamp out corruption.

The BBC has this key excerpt from his inauguration speech (full version is here):

Those who spread corruption should be tried and prosecuted. Corruption is a very dangerous enemy of the state. We will soon organize a conference in Kabul to organize new and effective ways to combat this problem. Afghan ministers should be professional and servants of the people. The government officials should register their earnings.

To which we say: Better late than never. During his first full term, Karzai presided over a country that slipped to second place on Transparency International’s roster of the world’s most corrupt places. And if Karzai really intends to crack down on graft and abuse of power, he won’t have to look very far.

Counterinsurgency guru David Kilcullen has been sounding off about a “cycle of corruption” that is destroying the country from within. We here at Danger Room are not fond of simplistic historical analogies, especially ones that invoke helicopters on the roof of the U.S. Embassy Saigon, but it’s hard not to think of the possible outcomes when the host government is hopelessly inept and kleptocratic.

And the clock in Kabul is ticking. In his inaugural address, Karzai suggested that foreign troops could be out within five years.”As they already have in Kabul, our own security forces should be able to take control of security of other provinces as well, and thus the role of the international troops will be gradually reduced and limited to support and training of Afghan forces,” he said. “We are determined that by the next five years, the Afghan forces are capable of taking the lead in ensuring security and stability across the country.

While that, perhaps, is not as fast as the Washington clock, it at least points the way to an eventual exit.